US forces hold Iraq MP after raid

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The US military in Iraq says it has taken an Iraqi MP into custody after he allegedly attended a meeting of suspected al-Qaeda members.

A spokesman said the MP was being questioned after he was found at the meeting raided by US and Iraqi forces.

The raid took place on 29 September in the town of Sharqat 260km (170 miles) north of Baghdad.

The main Sunni alliance in parliament, the Accordance Front, said the man was one of its MPs, Naif Jassim Mohammed.

It said it did not know why he had been seized.

"Officially, he is not considered a 'detainee' at this time. He is being held for questioning after being found at a suspected al-Qaeda in Iraq meeting during a combined Iraqi Security Forces/Coalition operation," a US military spokesperson told the Reuters news agency.

The Accordance Front withdrew from Prime Minister Nouri Maliki's Shia-led coalition government last month. Sunnis have criticised what they see as the failure to curb the Shia militias and the dominance by Shia factions over key institutions.